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We are officially in December and I’m sure that next week’s finals are filling a lot of you with stress. However, as soon as they are done we can all have a break and enjoy the holiday time that we get off. In the meantime, to help relieve some of that build up anxiety, here are some comical memes to bring some laughter into this time of stress.

Sorry it’s been so long since our last post. The beginning of the school year was a busy one, as I’m sure all of you know. We have passed Halloween, and now AHHA Week and Fall Break are right around the corner.

Since it has been so long since our last post, I am going to start by giving you guys something cute to look at!

Two Colorado professors, Gillian Silverman and Elissa Auther, run a series of events held at Denver’s Museum of Contemporary Art called “Feminism & Co.” It’s a really fascinating series with events like “Women in Prison”, a panel that discussed why women enter prison and the cycle that keeps them there. It’s really a very cool event series that I’m excited to attend.

I’m really worried, however, about the event coming up this week. The event is titled “The New Anti-Heroine”. This event, hosted by Sarah Hagelin (TV critic and professor of cultural studies at CU Denver) will be discussing the rise of the anti-heroine on TV shows such as Homeland, Enlightened, and the Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl—but will focus on Lena Dunham’s HBO series Girls.

The reason I’m worried isn’t about the Anti-Heroine concept and its rise. I’m worried because I really don’t like Girls getting publicity.

I honestly don’t see how Dunham can be praised for her work when so much is wrong with it. Sure, you can like some aspects of a work that is deeply problematic, but so few people seem to realize just how bad it really is. Should we really be giving positive attention to her and her work? Isn’t it about time that we stop giving praise to those that are so lacking in so many other ways? I think so. Now let’s work for a change in Hollywood. We all deserve a little bit of representation—not just the social majority.

Sorry it’s been so long since we’ve updated! I know you’ve been waiting with baited breath, but we’ve been keeping busy and this has sadly been neglected.

Today I really want to talk about Disney’s Frozen. I really enjoyed watching it. I loved the music. The animation was beautiful. But it is in no way as progressive as one might think. I’m not going into TOO much depth on it, but here’s a quick rundown.

First, the “you can’t marry someone you just met” quote that is used all over the place. Yeah, it’s great! I’m happy they said something about that. But it’s not like that’s an exactly new concept for Disney. Sure, there are a few. Little Mermaid is the classic example, but something like that hasn’t happened in years. Now we’ve got Brave, Princess and the Frog, and Tangled (though love does happen fairly quickly…but certainly not at first sight).

The real thing that this message is doingis telling Anna that she can’t do what she wants to do. This happens constantly in the film. Anna can’t go outside. Anna can’t marry Hans. Anna can’t run off to Elsa. Anna can’t do anything alone. What kind of agency is that? Not a very effective kind, honestly. Sure, she goes off alone anyway, but that’s not the point. She has to defywhat people say to do what she wants, which is not exactly optimal.

Second, there’s the troll marriage scene. I hate that scene. Why is lack of consent played off as a joke? I can’t really figure it. It’s supposed to be laughter at the trolls and their oblivious nature, but what really comes out is a disregard for Anna’s wishes and consent. Talk about a step back

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Third, where are the other races? Where are the people of color? They’re pretty much nonexistent. It’s been said that it would be unrealisticfor there to be people of color so far up north. But, um. Ice magic and talking snowmen. Who is being realistic here?

The fourth (and last I’ll mention, though there is more), has to do with Elsa. She’s being heralded as this strong and independent woman. People say that she is all who she is despite what everyone else needs or wants. But that is certainly not the case. The only way she can be herself is when she runs away from everyone else and isolates herself. I mean, she starts by being scared of her power and isolating herself from others. Then she becomes isolated even more and loves her power. And sure, by the end, people accept her, but really, it seems more like they accept her because of Annaand the return of warmth. I dunno, seems kind of hollow to me.

Anyway, that’s my take. I loved how pretty it was, and the music was beautiful, but progressive it was not. What did you think?

I linked to a post on Facebook last week by Amanda Hess that discusses why the internet is an unwelcoming, and in fact unsafe, place for women. I had always known that was true, but the article goes into a lot of depth on issues that I have had little frame of reference for as a man. However, that does not mean that I don’t understand and don’t see how horrible it all is. I mean, really, why is it so hard for people to see that women don’t deserve that type of treatment? And yet men continue to see women as objects—and hyper-sexualized ones at that.

Even Zombie victims are not exempt, apparently

I don’t think it’s any mind-blowing news or anything, but this hyper-sexualization of women is even more obvious online than anywhere else, and perhaps nowhere is it more apparent than in online dating.

Now I don’t mean to discount the viability of online dating for women. I have had many friends succeed in it (and many more fail to get anything out of it) so that is not my intention here. My intention here is to point out that many men use it as an opportunity to fall prey to societal norms and harass women. Now maybe it’s because it’s a bit more anonymous than face-to-face interaction. Sure, they have profile pictures, but everything on their profile can be very easily falsified and usernames are used rather than real names. Sure, there’s a possibility that they can be recognized on the street, but the likelihood of that occurring is pretty minimal. So maybe it’s that. I honestly cannot fathom any other reason that this…obscene harassment continues unabated, and that’s not even a good reason—it’s just a reason.

And that it continues is not exactly news. There’s a reason there are so many horror stories out there regarding online dating and why it still hasn’t completely dodged the social stigma. I mean with these messages being some of the more tame messages, can it really be that shocking that there are blogs that have made jokes of online dating by writing horror stories about them? Horror stories that I thought were 100% real—at least until I thought about how absurd some of them were. It can’t really be a shock that there are other blogs that show some of the more despicable messages and seriously creepy men that message women.

It’s really not that hard to understand

What is news is that men are starting to realize how horrid it is for women and how horrible men in the online dating world can actually be. There’s the story about the woman who created the most despicable character she could, hoping to drive away men and prove that it was better out there than she was told. Turns out, some men will take even a gold-digging, manipulative, egocentric, and racist woman if it turns out that she’s attractive. Or the story of the man who created a gender-swapped profile of himself and couldn’t last two hours with the amount of harassment and sexual messages that were coming to him.

All in all, these stories being presented prominently are a good thing, I think. Sure, there are men out there who continue to perpetrate this disgusting narrative, but it’s coming to the forefront and being recognized as a problem. Hopefully, that means that things will change as awareness rises. I’m not certain that’s actually true, but I’m hoping for it. Because when it comes down to it, I think that online dating is a great way to meet someone when you’re living a busy life. It just supremely sucks that so many men ruin it for everyone else.

Ah, my dream home…

But maybe I’m being an idealist and this will go no where and do nothing. But hey, I’m just gonna be over here, taking note, and hoping for the best. We’ll see, won’t we?

So I guess there’s enough to indicate that 2014 isn’t going to be a whole lot different. But I still try to help out where I can. I read a story about a young man throwing crabs from the beach into the sea. When asked why, he said “They’ll die if I don’t help them.” When told that there “must be millions of them” and he “can’t possibly make a difference”, the young man threw another back into the ocean and says “It made a difference to that one.” So, I’m going to hope for a better year and do what I can to make it happen…and here are some of the things I’ll be hoping and working for.

I’m hoping for more women in political offices. This includes, but is not limited to Wendy Davis and Leticia Van de Putte as Texas’ governor and lieutenant governor. I think that their ticket offers the best opportunities for educational focus, gender equality, and diversity in Texas. I mean, if Texas, a known red state and heavy in conservative attitude can come together and vote for two women pushing for progressive attitudes befitting this century, then I think it spells out good things for our country’s future.

I’m hoping for an increase in gay marriage legality across the country. Utah is working hard right now to have equality in the marriage market, and 2013 showed a marked increase in states willing to step forward for what is moral and equal (with the addition of California, New Jersey, New Mexico, Maryland, Rhode Island, Delaware, Illinois, Minnesota, and Hawaii) bringing us to 17 legal states. However, 33 states still ban same-sex marriage and that’s going to be a large barrier to cross. I have hope that we can move towards it, as 2013 (as bad as it was) showed the largest increase in years.

I’m hoping for a reduction in mass shootings…and dreaming of having none. Rachel Maddow told a story on the day of the DC Navy Yard shooting about the marked increase in the 12 worst mass shootings in our history. She talked of the first 6 happening over 50 years, while the last 6 happened with increasing frequency from 1999 to 2013. But those were also only the ones with 13 or more dead. 2013 alone had 365 mass shootings. 365. That’s enough for one every single day. While many of these shootings did not result in deaths, the sheer number of them is appalling. It’s too late now to hope that there won’t be any, but I have a sincere hope that there will be far fewer.

Overall, I’m just hoping that we do BETTER. I’m not looking for perfection, but I’m tired of this backsliding into the past. So do what you can to help. Donate time or money. Vote for your officials. Raise awareness for the issues in our society. And know that you may be only throwing a single crab back into the sea, but you’re still making a difference.

So, what are you hoping for? What will you be working for? Which crab are you going to make a difference for?